Don't want to forget this for next Thanksgiving

• 12 Cups dried bread cubes
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 pound sage sausage
• 1 pound bacon
• Rosemary, parsley, celery salt, white pepper, garlic powder
• 1 can chicken broth

Cook sausage and put aside. Cook bacon and put aside, leave bacon grease in pan. Sauté celery and onions in bacon grease, but aside. Combine meat and vegetables in bread cubes and toss. Put enough parsley in to cover generously, put in slightly less rosemary. Put in a pinch of garlic powder (fresh garlic might be better, probably 2 cloves or so).  Salt with celery salt and pepper with white pepper, note that the bacon will add salt so don’t overdo it. Add one can of chicken broth and toss. Put into dish, cover with tin foil, and bake for 30 min at 325.

Ideas for next year: Try bell peppers or some type of pepper like those light green ones from Dana’s garden. Scramble egg and combine with chicken broth before adding to mix. Thaw and use turkey stock.

We had a fun Halloween this year. I love this time of year! We had our house all decked out with scary Halloween decorations for the whole month. We had a Ward Halloween party a week before Halloween that we attended. We also went to a pumpkin walk in our city. They were fun activities.

Halloween day was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous. That afternoon we carved pumpkins. It was so fun. I think this was my favorite part our Halloween festivities. We set up a table outside in the sunshine. Little Miss painted her pumpkin. Morgan and I carved faces into ours. Our pumpkins looked so cute on our porch for trick or treaters.

After dinner, we dressed up for Halloween. Little Miss dressed up like a little black kitty. She loves to pretend to be a kitty, so her costume was easy to choose this year. I bought a witch hat at the DI and wore black: easy witch costume. Morgan dressed up as a vampire. Morgan took Little Miss out in our neighborhood, while I stayed home to hand out candy. We had several people in our neighborhood that we wanted to stop and see, but half way through, Little Miss got tired and just wanted to go home. She got plenty of candy though.

If summer is the time for doing, then fall is for the harvest, taking stock and making sure all is well for winter. 2011 has been especially kind to the Frame family, we've been able to get out and do many things we've had planned for years, but not been able to do. It seemed like every weekend Jen had something planned -- hiking, camping, a trip somewhere we've never been, an event, etc. Here are a few memories we haven't yet harvested on this blog.

We try and get out to Bear Lake once a year during Raspberry Days; the shakes are the best, and the jet-skis are great fun to drive on the lake. This year the water level had risen significantly and there was a lot less beach -- meaning that the remaining beaches were packed! We had to get up all the earlier to stake out a good spot. Little Miss loved the sand, and played in it all afternoon. We tried to get her to swim, but the cold lake acted as a deterrent, and she went back to dig in the sand with her new bucket and shovel. Jen, I think, liked the relaxation and sun the most. My favorite part was the fair food -- it's not every day I can get away with kettle corn and ice cream for dinner. At night we sat on the deck and watched lightning from the evening storms, Little Miss got so excited when she was able to see one.

The Utah County Fair was another event we were able to get to this year. Although it's not much, Little Miss enjoys the pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and ponies. It seemed like every time you turned a corner there was someone with a mullet standing there to greet you. This was Jen and mine's favorite part -- maybe next year I'll grow one out and showoff my meat goat, I'd rock

Jen and I planned a trip that, in retrospect, we should have planned better because it could have ended very badly. We decided that we would visit Topaz Mountain and let Little Miss pick up some pretty rocks (one of her favorite pastimes as the dryer will attest). For those of you who have never been to Topaz Mountain, you drive for hours in the desert leaving behind cell phone coverage and the known civilized world. With poorly marked roads (don't trust Google Maps) you can get lost and die without anyone finding you for years. After a few tense moments, we did end up finding the right road and got out to look for rocks. Little Miss was so excited to look for topaz; she even helped drive the car down the road a bit -- to this day she begs to "drive like at Topaz Mountain". By the time we left we had a small bag of topaz, which look just like pieces of shattered laminated safety glass.

During conference in October, we made a trip to Maple Canyon to see the fall colors and get some family pictures. We were just a bit early as it wasn't quite at its prime, but ended up getting some good shots. When the leaves turn colors, I think it is one of the prettiest places in the state as it looks like flaming red lava pouring out from the towering conglomerate cliffs.

Little Miss loves amusement parks, so when Jen scored a pass to get us in various parks in the State we made off like bandits. We got out to Trafalga in Lehi where Little Miss could have spent all day on the air plane ride. Little Miss and I were able to get on little bumper boats and have a water fight with Jen -- we lost. We were also able to get out to Lagoon in Farmington. Little Miss was in heaven with all the rides. She could not wait to go on the train ride and see the lions, tigers, wolfs, panthers and other animals (I really hope the owners aren't from Ohio). Little Miss and I wore ourselves out and on the way home we completely zonked out -- Jen got some pretty good pictures; I'm pretty sure I could see a blurry billboard in the background of one of the pictures though; she was probably driving down the freeway and doing a photo shoot at the same time. You have nothing to fear with Idaho drivers.

Ole, Ole Ole Ole! We went to our first soccer game ever this year. Soccer fans are something else as I'm pretty sure they tried lighting the stadium, or each other, on fire. There were people dressed up with drums and horns. I would encourage anyone to go to a game, even if you don't know anything about soccer -- it was all Greek to me. We were able to score tickets to a suite, which was awesome; you can watch indoors on the bar, on the big screen from the couch, or stroll outside and watch the game from the balcony (but heaven forbid you do this). Little Miss and Jen loved it. I loved the pulled pork/cole slaw sandwiches -- and the occasional fight.

We had a great summer, and are a little sad to see it go. But I think we've got enough in stock to get us through the winter. We hope 2012 brings as much fun.

 Yes, we are still alive. Yes, our blog still is here. We had a wee bit of a problem with our computer this summer. Our computer crashed and died. It was an epic crash. It was attacked by an awful virus. So, we used this as an excuse to get a new computer. Our old one was 4.5 years old (becoming a fossil), so Morgan jumped at the chance to get a pretty cool computer. I should have him blog about the details, because I have no idea. It's a lot faster than our old computer ... hooray! We also noticed that hackers or a virus or whatever also affected our blog. For a while, if you looked at our blog, the antivirus program would warn you that it was dangerous to look at. Once again, I have no idea how that works, but we just shut our blog down for a little while until Morgan had the time to fix. And because he's a genious, our blog is fixed. And now, we are back up and running. And the only people left reading our blog is probably our parents, but oh well. We'll try to get some updates of our busy summer on here soon. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this year's High Adventure camp with the Venture and Varsity Scouts in our area. We did 12 miles of horseback riding, a ropes course, river rafting, and a zip line. Here is my first attempt at making a movie with Windows Movie Maker so enjoy seeing me have fun! Yes, I'm still sore from riding the horse -- it's a wonder people didn't invent cars much earlier in our history.

Morgan took last Friday off of work, so we had a long 4 day weekend to celebrate the 4th of July. It was fantastic. Friday morning, we went swimming. We have season passes to our local water park, and we love going swimming. Little Miss LOVES it. We borrow a life jacket, and she loves to float down the lazy river. The kid pool is only 2 feet deep, so she can touch easily. She loves it, and it's so fun to watch her.

After swimming, we went to Morgan's parents' house. Little Miss was so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. We went up to the mountains to cook dinner and go for a little hike. We found a little camping spot that had a field of wild flowers and dandelions. Little Miss was in heaven. She wandered around picking the beautiful flowers and singing songs to herself. That girl loves the mountains. After eating our mountain cooked dinner, we went back to Morgan's parents' house. Morgan's sisters, Jenny and Ali, were kind enough to pitch the tent and sleep in the back yard with Little Miss. She was so excited, literally bouncing off the walls. She loved the girls night camp out. I'm shocked she actually slept! They watched a princess movie and Little Miss fell asleep 20 minutes into the movie.

The next morning, Morgan and I were able to go the temple. That's the main reason why we decided to go for the weekend, so we could have a free babysitter (thank you!). The Manti Temple is so beautiful. After the session, we packed up, said our good byes, and took off for home. We tried stopping at the Burger Bar in Fountain Green, but to our dismay, it was closed. They supposedly served the BEST burgers in Sanpete County and it went out of business. How will we ever know if they were truly the 'best' burgers?!

Mini Vacations is reason #10 of why I LoVe this summer.

After our camping adventure last weekend, we continued the fun by going on a mini vacation. We traveled to Logan, Utah. Morgan's cousin, Max, was talking in church to get ready for leaving for a mission. So, we were there a day early and had a fun time getting away. We stayed in a hotel, which makes it seem more like a vacation! Aside from visiting with family, we went to Willow Park Zoo. Now, if you have never been to the Willow Park Zoo, you need to know that using the word 'zoo' is kind of a stretch. They have an admission fee ($2/adult, $1/kid), that you drop in a fee box. Then you walk along the sidewalk to see the caged animals. And when I saw animals, I mean about 92% of the cages contain birds. All sorts of different birds, including a Bald Eagle, which was pretty cool. They do have a couple of other animals, for example: turtles, porcupines, monkeys, wolf, and a bobcat (which we didn't couldn't see). Little Miss enjoyed seeing all the animals. There was a weird looking swan (see picture) that walked along the sidewalk with us and made a really loud funny noise. Little Miss just laughed and laughed every time it squawked its funny squawk. It was a very hot day. My most favorite part of the zoo was the peach/pineapple flavored shaved ice that I bought right before we entered the zoo. It was heavenly.

Camping is Reason Number 9.

We FINALLY made it camping. Morgan and I have talked about going camping for the last five years. We just never made time for it, and always had excuses. We made it last weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

• We have good friends that have 2 kids that we went camping with. It was so good to see our friends, and fun to camp together.
• We found the most PERFECT camping spot. It was secluded, shady, and quiet. We were close to the stream. The site was beautiful. We've already decided to make it a yearly tradition.

• Little Miss spent hours (literally) finding little sticks to throw into the fire. It was awesome. She LOVED it. Little Miss and her friend, Mr. S, also loved throwing rocks into the water. Mr. S kept wanting to race Little Miss, but Little Miss was too preoccupied with throwing sticks or rocks. She's still in the "play next to other kids" instead of "play with other kids" phase. The two of them are so cute together. Mr. S is about 5 months older than Little Miss.
• Little Miss was absolutely terrified of the outhouse. It was a little scary, but she refused to go anywhere near it. It honestly took a good half hour to get Little Miss to go potty. We finally worked out a system to help her squat in the dirt. She still would go no where near the outhouses.

It was so fun. We need to go camping more often this summer. Little Miss was a FANTASTIC camper. As we were laying in our tent, going to sleep, she said "Hooray! I'm so excited to sleep in the tent!" It was so much fun!

Why I love this summer ... Reason Number 8 .... Garage Sales.

I've always loved them. It's amazing the stuff you can get for super cheap. It requires more work, but I love it! Whenever I pass one while driving, I have to slow down and scan the items. And, my most favorite thing: bartering a little. Offering the people less money than they are asking! It's so fun. A couple weeks ago, I went out on my first real yard sale shopping spree of the year. I have a few items that I want specifically (wagon and tricycle). I found some great deals, but still no wagon or trike. The first one, we found a hiking backpack that would hold Little Miss. We borrowed one from friends for our hike before, but I found one for us to have. They were asking $35, but I bought it for $30. Sweet. I went to the next house on my list, and they had this kids easel with a marker board on one side and a chalk board on the other side. I've seen these in the store. Even contemplated getting one for Little Miss. I saw it at the yard sale, and saw that it was in excellent condition. Even better: Price tag said $1. Yes, thank you. I will buy this for a buck. They also had little kid metal folding chairs. Like the ones in Primary rooms at church. Super sturdy, and the perfect size for Little Miss and her little friends that come over for our Preschool swap. They were a little dirty and rusty, but we are in the process of sanding them and painting them. They wanted a buck per chair, but I got away with 4 chairs for $2. Awesome. Let the bargains continue all summer long!

Reason Number 7: Why I love this summer! 

Baby Quail. Our neighborhood has millions of birds (well, maybe not millions), and it has tons of quail (yes, I think literally tons). Every spring, we see these tons of quail multiply and have baby quail. They are the cutest thing ever. I love how the Mama and Papa Quail strategically herd these babies through fences and across the roads. Over the weekend was our first spotting of a quail family with tiny babies. Yesterday, we found one of these little guys all by himself in our driveway. It was pretty sad. We weren't sure if he was just lost, he didn't seem hurt. So, we cornered him and Morgan picked him up. Little Miss loved to hold this baby quail. She didn't want to let him go. Finally, we convinced her to let him go free so he can find his family. The fate of this poor little baby quail is probably pretty sad, but it was fun for our family to see one so close.